Some microorganisms are capable of acting as immunomodulating agents, such as Mycobacterium smegmatis used in Freund's complete adjuvant and OK432 from Streptococcus pygens as the anti-tumor potentiator. Many polysaccharide immunomodulating agents have also been detected and isolated from Basidiomycetes class of fungi, such as lentinan, schizophyllan, TML and SF AI. A novel family of fungal immunomodulatory proteins has been isolated from the edible mushrooms, such as Vvo from Volvariella volvacea (grass mushroom), LZ-S from Ganoderma lucidum (Ling-Zhi), Gts from Ganoderma tsugae (songshan lingzhi), and Fve from Flammulina velutipes (golden needle mushroom).
Although the therapeutic value of a number of mushrooms has been documented, the active components that confer such therapeutic effects are not well understood.
Ko et al (Eur. J. Biochem., 228, 244-2419) describes the isolation and purification of a protein known as FIP-fve from Golden Needle Mushroom extracts. The authors describe a method of extracting this protein, as well as some biochemical properties of FIP-fve. The amino acid sequence of FIP-fve is presented. FIP-fve is shown to cause proliferation of human peripheral blood lymphocytes, and mice sensitised to BSA are protected against anaphylactic shock by periodic injections of FIP-fve. A hind-paw edema test shows that FIP-fve inhibits antibody production against antigen 48/80. Finally, the authors show that FIP-fve induces expression of IL-2 and IFN-γ in spleen cells from mouse.
An amino acid sequence of FIP-fve is found as GenBank accession numbers: S69147 immunomodulatory protein FIP-fve-golden needle mushroom gi|7438667|pir∥S69147[7438667] and P80412 IMMUNOMODULATORY PROTEIN FIP-FVE gi|729544|sp|P80412|FVE_FLAVE[729544].